Exclusive: AASX
Triton review
First reviews!
Mirrorsoft's
Spitfire and
Amor's MAX AM
op-nf-llK-rnnf-r
Easter
\ adventure for
f C64, C16 and
VIC20
Police in Silicon Valley. where they arc [aught
California arc now being fight computer crime
trained a-. In tech ifimcbllstci s. electronic ik' vices HOI
And first to be nabbed was a thai you can avoid paying
15-year-old hacker. Computer telephone hiiu. hut ('uJii'nrnuin
cops laid a trap within high- law prohibit* such fraud-
brow Stanford University's Money Ls bein(! poured into
system, and the young student, this area of crimclijhniiL!
who was trying to change his the course is sponsored hy
schiiol trades, mil m.'iej. 1 .thiol iii.i Stale at a Cost of
The Silicon Valley boys in S23S.OOO. And other police
Easter
from HCW!
In classic movie tradition, simulated 3D and big sound soundtrack with 4 way scrolling action
CONTENTS
| April 2- April 8, 1985 No. 106 j
Soapbox
[ he 1;
.« ?M i.
notable I
tegy. 3-2-1 is being
liscd on television an J
L'\ilusivirl\ by mail otdcr.
a way this is a step back-
wards for the software industry.
Mail order was initially used by
many companies starting oui ill
business. It makes distribution
much easier — and cheaper —
nd cms down on the number
f in-between people who take
tits of the cover priee. Ii also
leans thai the mmu:f;M urine
ampany can keep a lighi hold
n stocks and plan production
K-Tel
blitzed us all with a heavy
promotional campaign — but
dmiited thai it didn't work.
So why this move back in
me? Micro Computers stales:
It's a new and exciting area of
growth and "ill set trends".
Haven't we seen ihis all before?
ic innovation? Liz
If you disagree with anything
' ted in the Soaplwx coluinn.
e to us and tetl us why. We
« priwj'it oh 'he tellers we
SPECIAL FEATURES ,
Firmwar* — Merlin Oolatcrlb* ....
M
Welcome to BASIC
42
/ SPECTRUM
1
I BBC
Eater adventure (CM)
Rabbyte {CM. do and VtC-20)
34
/ZX8I
/
/ REGULARS /
Yaarhtfn
Keorfers'pogo.
; AMSTRAD CPC464 /
BASIC LIVING
b y Jon Wedge and Jim Barker
CO
LU
Watch this machine
Spot the Organiser could tic Ihc
newest game for 1985. Psion's
interesting places.
Marks and Spencer is using
[he machine in an attempt to
cut down on credii card fraud.
The plan is for each cash till
(to have a modi lied Organiser
allachcd to the credii card
machine and as curds are passed
The memory is then consulted
and if (here are any queries
about the card concerned the
Information is displayed.
There will be a distribution
of new card numbers each day.
which should reduce the lime
its withdrawal from the system.
Another use for the machine
has been found by the medical
profession. The plug-in
memory chips can hold a drug
database nith details of dosage
and side-effects. All the doctor
has to do is type in the drug
' scrolled
is the st
The program pack holds all the
formulae needed for complex
calculations and the internal
clock automatically date stamps
all the entries.
Lesser mortals will be more
interested in a new range of
add-ons For the device. The
modem and the communicator
allows the setting of all the
pmii>i.-tik required.
One probable use of such a
small and simple device is for
the profoundly deaf, who will
be able to communicate with
those at home by telephone in
the very near fulure.
Page * HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 2 A
Keyboard conflict
Keyboard makers were i
disarray after [he an no unci
mem or the withdrawal of iht
Spectrum 48 K.
Saga, one such supplier, ha:
m no u need thai the Emperoi
keyboard is being slashed ic
£49.95.
The official reason for thi:
change is lhal it has now sole
In. i"" unils. but one might bt
forgiven for suspecting thai
Sinclair's asking price of OQ for
Greater compatibility is one of
the features of the new Electron
disc interface from Cumana.
Sold without a drive, but with
the option of attaching both
lent at twice the speed. A r
lime clock calendar can be u;
to date stamp the Tiles as ll
are saved to the disc.
The unit plugs .trumlu ii
the cartridge slots on the P
One e
s the ft
by
lie system is double den-iiy
can give a capacity of I.B
s the single density ctjiiiva-
Ashford Duncan Bo wen Youth
Wing is starting a monthly
using the computers used by
club members during the week.
The group aims to
hands-on experience for I
new to computing as well as
providing a meeting place for
seasoned users. Prcstel laciliiii
Software update
Those who as
workings of
Quick.'.! Iv-i. :■
Nuclear \
> the
Based on the film of the
designed to be very hard to
lish «) players don't become
3red ton easily", according to
Quicksilva.
The Wriggler from Romantic
Robot is a novelty arcade/maze
game and has a bonus game on
the second side. At a price of
15.95 it looks good value —
HCW's full review will follow
you fancy yourself as a
"high stepping, high energy,
dance to the music, construc-
man" then Rock 'n* Bolt
should be just your cup of tea.
~ ask is to build a 100-siorey
its Theatre Europe game, PSS
claims that the game is based
upon accurate information
from NATO, the Ministry of
Defence and Soviet military
allowed to occur.
Rock 'n' Boh
Pete 'n' Barry
Fantastic Voyage
Mighty Magnus
Time Trucker
on a programme to be shown
here soon. Later in the year
Ocean plans to release a game
based on the series Knight
Super Pipeline II
Extended BASIC
Daley Thompson's Dec
Kong Strikes Back
Hunchback II
French on the Run
Spectrum
BBC.
Electron,
Amstrad.
MSX
Talisn
Chaos
Theatre Europe
C5 Ciive
£7.95 Chalksoft
£10.95
£6.90 Impact
£6.95 Quicksilva
£6.95 Quicksilva
9.95 ASK
8.90 Tasksel
0.95 Micro Com
8.95 Ocean
8.95 Ocean
8.95 Ocean
9.95 Silvcrsoft
.4.99 Silversoft
.7.95 Games Wmk-nr.
".'J? (.ianies Works'
9.75 I
relationship between the 12 and
24 hour clocks. Versions are
planned for Amstrad and MSX
HOMECOMI'I UMi w
More joy
e ihe Com mo
'f ihe beholder. machine:
r.Hromas claim- ikii ii'i new t 13 * a lra
proiwiiotial atialiium; -erics of £32.95.
iponsive and
itched Euromo*
fttfftrfr
] i | ki t -ii \Ji
| li » j**i V l—i
nrWIrJB Mfftfl
I'j niO-r 1 "''
ill
PhP£
fey
9KESB
jsj * MPByBsiyi^
SSt^i
BH
Tom
r-^2-
^nxS
TC^rz
tmrnm
kfc
^'■^iV ^'■■■•■^^ '.»
3fj£2S
If you crack our code then you could
soon be cracking an Easter egg — and
A 'n' F's Chuck'te Egg 2
Our competition this
week has :i real Luster
flavour to it. If you
aren't fed up with chocolate
eggs yet then you'll really enjoy
the prizes we're offering.
There will be 50 winners who
will each receive a copy of A V
F's new program, Chuckie Egg
2 for the Spectrum (subtitled
Choccv Egg) which costs £6.95.
To add to the Easter flavour of
will also get a chocolate Easter
egg and be eligible in ami -\
V F's £1800 Chuckie Egg 2
competition.
Chucky Egg 2 features the
hero Hen House Harry whose
job is to get the Easter Egg
factory running smoothly. He
must mix together the ingredi-
ents for the eggs and find the
parts for the little toys which go
inside them. There are 120
screens and, according to A V
F, it is a true arcade/ ad venture.
If you haven't got a Spectrum,
anyway
You'll
e the puzzle we*'
To have a chance of winning
prize you'll need to crack a cot
not an egg. Study the code
sentence on this page and look
carefully at the clue word
■.l-,\!pl>i,\l t'[>r you. This s
enable you to work ou
rucmiiig nt iIk 1 whole sen-
Write your solution i:
space provided on the
coupon. Complete the coupon
clearh and fully — if vou are a
winner it will be used as a label
for your prize. Send the cc
on the back of your envelope.
Send your entry to: Chocey
Cge Competition, Home Com-
puting Weekly, No. I Colden
Square. London WIR 3AB.
Closing dale is first post or
Friday 12lh April, 1985.
You may enter as many limes
as you wish, but each entr)
must be on an official entr}
coupon — not a copy — anc
sealed in a separate envelope.
Pti/es will arrive from A 'n
1 within 2N days of the publica-
tion of the issue containing tin
results of the competition.
Coda br«ofc»r
FN BQZFU Z BGTBJHD DFF
firry Coupon
iitTon
Address _
l
J
1
. . po „ coJe
My solution
« (ft. «rf. .«*■„» fc.
i
|
UOMI- (lllll'[]l\t,tt[IMV 2 April I'm Pbri
Up and Coming
Still a! number one — Soft Aid
by various an i sis. US Gold is
still iiiiLiiiuiining a high profile
with three games in the (op 20.
from Maslcrlromc — Chiller
and Finders Keepers. Chiller
has been around for some time
and this isn't the first time it's
reached the top 20. Master-
software games in the top 50
— not bad for low budget
At the top of the specialist
charts. Soft Aid heads both
Spectrum and C64, while Micro
Power's Castle Quest is top of
the BBC chart. Elite is still
prominent at number three in
the BBC chart. This is its 24th
week in the chart.
Joint longest runners in the
genera] chart are Addictive
Game's Football Manager,
Ocean's Daley Thompson's
Decathlon, Anirog's Flight
Path 737, and US Gold's
SOFTWARE
Week Ending March 19, 1985
~T~
«®S^£
Delve into the murky depths of
Macbeth, The Sandman Cometh and
The Prince. Peter Sweasey muses on
\ these three adventures
K
Jj Enter, my dark, damp and
/ dingy dungeons of your own
(free will... bul be warned. for
you may never return. The irap
is set, by Ventures, HCW's
weekly column dealing with the
world of adventures and
arcventures (arcade adventures,
for those poor souls who have
never read this before).
This week 1 shall be looking
al Macbeth from Creative
Spaiks, The Sandman Cometh
from Star Dreams and The
nee from CCs, and I'll be
giving Tar too generous hints
for Return To Eden and
Danger Mouse in Black Forest
i, read on... if you dare!
Reviews
Jler in Macbeth, an adventure
ir the CM. This adaptation of
Shakespeare's classic comes as
four separate programs,
'n the first, a text graphic
M, you play Macbeth, and
si face Scotland':
. The
xt only game.
is Lady Macbeth, arranging the
king's death as he stays at her
castle one night. She aiso faces
domestic problems, such as
preparing lea for the tired
:ollec
cauldron bubble. In adventure
four, a mainly text game, you
must protect your castle from
the marauding hordes. Vou are
alone, without even your wife
to help you, and musl avoid a
spreading fire, in a lime limit. If
you complete the final game,
and have worked out the
correct code from the others,
you can rewrite the original,
and become king.
The authors are right: it is an
adventure. On the whole it is
well developed, with plenty of
puzzles to be pondered over,
and many battles to be fought.
Graphics arc excellent through-
out, very colourful, with limited
animation. There are sound
effects too, like a screeching cat
or creaking door.
However, there is one major
fault — the vocabulary. This
program understands very Mill
for example, to pass through
certain door I tried forward, gi
pass, through, in, enter, et
until eventually discovering go
forward. Annoyingly. "-
computer highlights
offending word in red, rather
than telling you what it docs not
understand. The screen blanks
i type
LOOK almost every other
move. No abbreviations are
accepted.
Despite these flaws. Macbeth
u- 1 |l I u I
particularly the psychoanalyst
programs at the end. Thus,
Vnuuri'-i Fining of "*". It cos
£14.95 from Creative Sparks.
'To sleep, perchance i
dream...' Why do computi
programmers suddenly think
they are so clever? The'booklel
to The Sandman Cometh
implies that the game is a whole
way of life, of thinking and
learning. It also stales that the
game is 'very different from any
other ad'
. Not a
HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 2 April I
player rousi find t
Unfortunately, a poieolially
very good and ociginid scenario
has not been well implemented.
It is a graphical advenlurc with
sparse and boring lexl. The
graphics are slow to build and
not very inspiring, also rather
small. The different locations,
which could be so varied, are
dull and stereotyped: there's a
fairground, a western town, the
middle ages and a James Bond
type. So much for being totally
different. In it's f
game has good s
The '
i-ery is
iKililLimi Irving to unlock
!. Unlock is not accepted.
rt brass key. The
any game. Respoi
stow, and after eacn loading tne
player must sit through a film-
style credit sequence — mind
numbingly boring to all bul [he
programmers.
The Sandman Cometh is a
poleniially brilliant idea, spoilt
by incompetent development. It
has an amateur feeling to it.
Ventures rating ■• — poor. The
Sandman Cornel h costs £9.95
for the Spectrum, from Star
Dreams. „
Finally this week. The Prince
from CCS. This was winner of
The Cambridge Award for
I9S4. I reviewed the dreadful
1942 Mission, the runner-up,
some time ago. Happily, The
The lore master is dead. Four
members of the royal court,
Fernando, Porcus, Ambrose
and Grasper, wish to take over
the job. To do this they must
find the tokens within the
castle, ihen present them to the
Prince. This involves, amongst
traditional venturing skills;
trading, bribery, blackmail,
thuggery and stealing.
The unusual thing about this
game is that it requires four
players. Each player takes on
one of the previously mentioned
personality. The players take it
in turn to use the keyboard.
Whilst one is working there for
a limited time, the other three
can form alliances or perform
Electrical
The top of
1 1
the factory
1 1
Quia
The fire escape
■zr
1 One way
We call him
Sir
Ted's desk
1
Reception
1
Cloakroom
—
Boardroom
Photocopier
The m id tf le c
fthe
hip factory
true Dungeons and Dragons
style. The computer acts as
(\ a vJq
cy^$0~*y
and spy, which can be told to
hit other computer characters
their disposal.
sound and text are well though!
out and atmospheric. The
/s^?Mi
is \^?'\
game is incredibly complex. If
^ Vv«?
you are a D&D fan, you will
love this. Olher people will too,
if they can understand it fully,
yM®>
and can find four people with a
day to spare. Ventures rating
Spectrum
<#
Helpline
Firstly. Dangermouse In Black
Fores! Chateau, a game
be reviewing fully nex
For people in part o
iolkmini; hints are com
Nick Windsor, Surrey.
Vampires bugging you? The cat
likes coloured fish — then you
can get the right liquid from th
garden, providing you have Ih
bucket. Gorillas arc ticklish -
and Venus mouse traps need ;
switch in temperature. The
skelclon
obvious — but are you harking
up the right tree?
Now Return To Eden. If you
don't want to cheat, stop
reading now! Feeling weak? Eat
the bean at the bend in the path.
The peculiar shaped egg needs
planting — use your spade.
Can't
tsthei
■7 Yon [ii
some tubers, and the si
the leviathan blocks your way,
what you found in the
houseplant. You will need the
squee;e it on the
he bulb. The shool
handy. To cl:
The third pan of our
stunning Technician Ted Map is
published here. Only one
maps soon. Next week I
shall be looking at some of the
best — and worst — products
recently. Happy
venturing...
Pige 10 HOME Ct.lMI'UTIM i WFFKI.Y 2 April I9B5
3D LANDMARKS
YOU CAN FLY AROUND
MYRDDIN FLIGHT SIMULATION
AMSTRAD CPC 464 bJ^*?
Here are some screens from a typical (light showing the view from the cockpit (top half of screen)
produced as printouts of the actual simulator.
X
\/
' -.^
A real time simulation with 3D graphics uses a massive 64000 x 64000 longitude & latitude flying
area, making each flight completely different. Developed under pilot instruction to give realistic
(light effect. The view through the cockpit gives moving 3D graphics.
Comprehensive instrument panel with moving needle meters & digital displays. 1 5 aircraft types
with varying control sensitivities & speeds of between 1 00 - 500 knots.
3 runways available (or refuelling, take off & landing. Ground and landmark orientation correct with
all flying attitudes (rolls etc.).
The3D graphics are still accurate whe
you fly upside down.
3D landmarks you can (ly around.
MYRDDIN SOFTWARE. PO BOX 61 . SWINDON, WILTS.
Telephone: (0793) 40661
Please send me Flight Simulator! si by return ot post lor
■r keyboard operation.
If your local dealer doesn't have it i.
stock yet, order from us direct.
For despatch within 48 hrs.
(usually 24 hrs.).
X
in rrm
OR Telephone tr
Get to grips with
the full
capabilities
of your Amstrad
CPC464 in the first
of a regular series
written by Cllve
Glfford
2 <
The Amstrad has powerful
sound capabilities but these are
difficult to get to grips with and
can be confusing to the begin-
ner. In this series of articles, 1
hope to make your task of using
[he sound facilities a lot easier.
Simple sounds and sound
effects can be achieved without
any difficulty just by using the
SOUND command. After the
command, you can follow up 10
four numbers for a simple
sound, (i.e. one that isn't using
defined envelopes), as shown
below:
and allows the CPC464 to select
just one of the three available
sound channels or to play more
than one simultaneously, thus
creating the Amstrad's famous
determines the lone of the note
and can be a number from 1 to
4000, though for most purposes
the range is between 50 and
them
i the v.
eleven
and 15. Hoi
when dealing with simple
sounds without envelopes, the
volume range is restricted to
between and 7. When an
envelope is used, there is a need
for a greater volume range and
then a number between and 15
A simple note would look
something like this: SOUND
1,100,50.4. The example note
being played on channel 1 is a
high pitched note of medium
volume lasting for half a
One can experiment with
simple sound and get some
interesting and worthwhile
effects. By using a FOR/NEXT
loop, il is possible to change the
pilch of a note by one unit each
pass of the loop. This gives the
effect of a sweeping sound: the
example below demonstrates
this.
IB FDR T=400 TO
2B SOUND 1,7,1,7
3d NEXT
40 FDR T=10 TO 400
50 SOUND 1,T,1,
6B NEXT
^s
A simple siren or alarm a
be created just by repeating tv
notes, the first of which
slightly higher than the secon
IB FOR T=l TO :
2B SOUND 1,70
30 SOUND 1,110
40 NEXT T
jnple, the ENT
i ENT 1,20,3,5,
then the result would be a fall in
pitch of three for each of the 20
steps with the overall duration
of the envelope being 20 steps
-uieth of r
'thicker'
more depth to it. A far
interesting way of using the
three channels is 10 have eacr
channel playing a note simul-
taneously but with each note a
a slightly different pitch. Thi:
gives a phased sound as tht
routine below demons! rates.
Once you have created a
envelope, you must obviously
give il a sound to work «' '
Several additions have 10
made to the SOUND staten
IB FOR T=300 TD 80 i
2B SOUND l,Tl SOUND :
30 NEXT
difference of three: iry five or
six and also experiment with
different durations of notes.
There is a limil on ihe range
and realism of simple single
channel sounds. To creale more
complex sounds from explos-
of musical
tone and volume envelopes
which shape the sound.
The Amstrad has two
commands, ENT and ENV
which stand for Tone Envelope
and Volume Envelope respect-
ively. Let's firsily deal with
ENT.
ENT allows you to alter the
tone of a sound throughout ihe
playing of thai sound. ENT is
firstly followed by an envelope
number. This is simply a
numbered tag so thai Ihe sound
command can specify which
envelope it requires if a
program contains a number of
envelopes.
After this envelope number
comes a group of parameters
which determine the rise or fail
in the pilch of the sound. This
of three figures:
the 111
srofst
ti :)k i,
change; ihe size of each s
(this can be a positive or
negative number corresponding
to a fall or rise); the duration, in
one-hundredths of a second, of
each step.
something like ihis: SOUND 1,
200,100,7,0,1. The sixth
number specifies which lone
envelope is required while the
fifth number is concerned with
the volume envelope and al the
momenl should be set to nought
as we are not dealing 1
volume envelopes.
There are two cautionary
noles to mention when dealing
with these commands. Firstly,
make sure lhat your sound lasts
long enough for the envelope to
work (an envelope lasting 2
toial of two seconds would bt
cut sharply if it was being used
second). Secondly, when using
ENT make sure lhat the change
in pitch is within the capability
Of your SOUND statement, ,
change in pilch of -80 on a not
with an original pilch of 6.
won't result in the sound lhat
you intended bui instead a
pitched raspberry.
ENT in ihis present form is
very useful in replacing 1
FOR/NEXT loop for l
constantly rising or falling lone.
In addition, you have more
control over the length of each
nole. The line below produces
ihe same effect as ihe first three
lines of Ihe first routine in
Next lime, we'll continut ....
discussion on ENT and use
ENV to create some useful
sounds and effects to include
within your own programs.
E COMPUTING WEEKLY 1 April 1985
BLOCKBUSTERS
rovidmg
lome computer,
against each
ntal agility and general knowledge -
vour excitement - we'll deliver
"A surprisingly addictive family garr
Irfacsen Software, GBA Limited, 17 Nott
Square, Carmarthen, Dyfed, SA3 1PQ.
Please send me a Blockbusters programme for my
BBC-B ELECTRON Q SPECTRUM 48K Q
COMMODORE 64 Q (Tick appropriate box)
Price £7.95 + 60 pence p&p.
I enclose Cheque/PO number
tor £6.55 made out to Macsen Software orptease
my ACCES5/BARCLAYCARD. number _
Signature (Mr/Mrs<MiSS)
THE ULTIMATE
CHALLENGE!
MACSEN
with good, smooth
graphics, effective sound and
steady scrolling. Each screen is
totally different in design,
though the basic idea is the
same. You try to reach the
Generating Room and destroy
Ihe power generator of the
Xxabaneans' starship. The
Xxabaneans — the Bug-Eyes —
are trying to destroy all
intelligent life in the Universe.
In your spacesuit, you enter
Screen 1 and try to avoid the
te Stamping Slompers, which
synchronisation and at different
' :. If you make it to the
n ihe net, more difficult,
i is reached. It has
Blinking Bouncers, that squash,
and bridges that come and go.
Each successive screen gets
increasingly more difficult.
There are Lazer Blazers, lasers
and spiders. Whizzing Walk-
ways, six moving bridges,
Plummeting Platform and
finally the Generating Room
with
nveyor bell
:ullist
Blinking
colourful, enjoyable,
;live arcade adventure
game thai all games people
should own. T.W.
•: 16.95
Publisher: Icon Softwt
Maxam
This ZSO development
the first expansion ROM
available for the Amstrad
CPC464, and Arnor are to be
congratulated on a superb job.
The I6K ROM comes on a
small circuit board which plugs
inio the expansion port (most of
(he board goes inside the
computer): a through-con-
nector allows other boards and
the disc drive to be fitted, and a
third connector caters for
future ROMs from Amor.
MAXAM contains a versatile
ZSO ai
seful t<
Between them, they provide ali
develop and debug machine
code programs, either alone or
mixed with BASIC.
Assembler source code may
be typed in using the lexl editor
(no line numbers are required},
or you can mix assembler with
BASIC in a similar way io BBC
BASIC. In this case the source
code must be in REM state-
ments since extension ROMs
cannol alter the way BASIC
interprets the program, and
syntax errors would occur if ihe
source wasn't •■hidden 1 '.
Extra assembly directives arc
provided to pass variable values
and addresses between BASIC
standard directives to be
substituted — BYTE, WORD
and TEXT for DEFB, DEFW
The monitor allows any pan
of RAM and ROM (including
expansion ROMs, but not
by overtyping on the screen
display. Blocks of memory can
be moved intelligently (i.e.
One debugging tool
included is single-stepping
through a machine code
program, but there is a wa;
round this. Breakpoints may bi
set freely in the code simply bv
typing BRK as a directive in the
source listing (a breakpoint
halts a machine code program
and displays the registers on
examined the contents). To
single-step, you could insert
BRKs after every op-code in the
block in question. String search
facilities allow a check to ensure
you'd taken them ail out after
Useful external commanc
include lllll I' to identify a
expansion ROMs fitted, ROM
numbers, and the external
commands provided by
particular ROM. IROMOFF
resets the machine without
initializing any expansio
ROMs, which allows som
fussy types of cassette softwat
to be run without problems.
This is definitely the be:
editor/assembler for th
Amstrad — I can highly
recommend it. If the ROM
version is too expensive for
disc and cassette versions
also available at £13,50 and
£26.90, with slightly fewer
features.
Price: £59.90
NOME COMI'UTING WEEKLY 2 April
Spitfire 40
lime niphi simulators
often requite the skills of an
e and [he appendages of an
:topus. This is no exception 10
the rule but at least it give? you
two practice modes to develop
your skills and manual
dexterity.
The scenario for this
simulator lakes you back to the
Summer or 1940 and an airfield
somewhere in the South East of
England. You have just been
assigned to fly with a Spitfire
squadron and as your experi-
log and decorations.
s the n
s you fly eacl
ion to locale and defeat thi
ly, your flight log can thci
rough; up 10 daie and mivci
isc ready for flight anothe
day. Eventually, you may evei
:hieve the rank of Groui
Captain with a coveted VC.
The program has three basii
screens: the control panel, ih
view from the cockpit windov
The cockpit view is a vet
realistic representation of
Spitfire, with a few dials an
lights added to compensate tr
lack of controls whic'
;e the fc
ofte
The cockpit view is unspec-
tacular except when engaged in
combat. Suddenly there are
planes of all colours flying at
from every conceivable
le. The forward view is
iplcmemed bv a small
ror which shows if the
enemy are on your tail. Enemy
hu'lets striking home are
indicated by sound and the
flickering of the border colour
surrounding I he screen.
In practice 1 found the
Spitfire to be extremely
responsive to the controls and
spent much of my early flight
practice in an inverted position
due to an extremely sleep climb
which resulted in a loop,
generally followed by panic as
the ground started to loom up
towards me. Eventually, thanks
manual, I managed to iron out
these problems.
During combat practice 1
soon discovered how to avoid
attackers but found thai hilling
them was very difficult and in
the combat mode, which is the
main program mode, l...well let
me put it this way, if they had
left the Battle of Britain to me
we'd all be eating sauerkraut
and wearing leiderhosen.
Mirrorsoft
Holborn Cir<
annul".' Ni'«
find out. Hat
Hacker, finds his way into a
telephone network, through a
modem and is lost inside the
circuit of a computer.
After listening to an excellent
and entertaining rendering of a
played in the style of a
i organ. Hacki ' '
le first [
of his journev.
»iai of 12 differenl
> pass from one to
whilst dodging
floppy dic-
ing ICs ana oilier mov
ous.' One interesting lean
allows j player to preview a
eh of the 12 screens. T
a gel H
c final siages of a game look
However, lo play and obtain
score, you must progress
rough the game seqiiciiiialh
id collect each of the discs
:fore moving on. There are
ily three controls for moving
acker round the screen but it
kes time to learn the different
chniqucs necessary to make
rtain moves; rather like an
Price: £2.50
Publisher: Firebird Soflvv;
Address: Wellin
MMMMMM
Flipped
WMM3B
Hooked
L COMI'L riNCi V
stealing [he kings' water, you
find yourself in a small dimly lit
prison cell. Yes. bland of Xaan
is an adventure game and in the
classic siyte. text only
Your abject is to escape,
amass treasure, Find a disguise
and leave the island on a con-
teniem ship. All this is easier
said than done, as one might
The game follows the same
format as ihe Level 9 and
Aeornsort classics. However,
[here are one or i>i exceptions
Firstly, there is more violence
usual and strangling
guards comes hard to someone
re accustomed [o the likes of
I'liili'siiphers' Quest!
Secondly, there
For
Fatal
example if you neglect to
the dead guard before leavin
le door slams -.liiil an
you then can't go through ih
azc since you haven't got
mpass. This leaves you n
,1 £7.95, Island of Xaan i
cheaper than most and i
notebook and .SOS card.
; ihey only spoil the fun
Way, and everything you
■d is explained whilst the
\& a first offering. Xaan is
quite good but will someone
: tell me how to pass [he
sleeping guard — the only help 1
— '-"Write to Alice"! J.G.I).
Masterfiie 464
Masterfile 464 is a very clci
piece of work. It consists of
tiny UAS1C loader which pre
cedes 10K of machine code and
boih are easily transferred
disc When loaded, it allc
: pow
wuhoui having to understand
thing about computer program-
ming. In effect, your 464
becomes an enormous filing
system capable or handling
li could be names, addresses
and phone numbers, a cata-
logue of parts, their locations,
costs and suppliers' names and
addresses, or your record
collection. It might be sales
information, product details, or
a selection of recipes, together
Using a series of on-screen
menus, you are laken gently
through the stages of selling the
system up. Before this, you
should have worked out the
structure you need, Tor example,
each record of a name and
address tile will need a separate
field for name, si reel number
town, post code. It's important
id do this because laier you will
be able lo sort you list by each
of ihese fields.
Having scl up [his siructure,
you musl then decide how you
want it displayed or primed.
You would probably want [he
above example in the form of a
si raig hi Forward on-screen list,
and also us address labels for
your printer. If however, your
list was more demanding, for
example, details of products
sold to the people on your list,
any of its attributes: either
alphabetically or numerically, in
ascending or descending order.
You can select records by
aunbute. for ciample all the
people in Staffordshire on your
list, who have bought product!
> add i
existing Tiles it is easily done.
You don't have lo start again. If
you think of a new use for the
program, then ail you need le
do is load it and eonligure t
new series of files. The possi-
bilities -ecm endless.
There arc limitations, how
ever. The whole file is held in
BAM. Ihus the use of disc drive
memory is noi possible. This
limits vour address file to about
600 records. Similarly, you can
only have two related gener-
ations of records, so you musi
design your structure lo take
this into accounl. Whilst ihe
accompanying example I
and manual are good, and
detailed, it would have t
helpful lo have siep- by-
seal or a super galactic space
Thankfully the handbook it
one of the best 1 have seen Tor
ihis sort oF simulation; Ihe
complexities involved in flying
this craft, your Intcrdictor Mk
III. are considerable.
The lime ii takes to assimilate
the 48 pages oF information,
depends on your lea:
Starling with a dummy run,
sing the slow motion option.
and given enough practice, you
may gel to Fly a successful
mission, and achieve a perfect
docking whh. the Siarbase.
On the oiher hand, it may be
just loo complicated for you.
unless you are determined to see
Superb graphics and sound
add enormously to the reality of
Ihe project. The panoramic
ockpit
ilisltc, with g
3-D implementaiion as the a
crafl zoom towards you.
You can use 40 of Ihe keys
and the joystick to control ihe
Inlctdictor, though thankfully,
not all at the same lime.
Here
of the keys are only
operating conditions. Although
Ihese parameters arc all coverec 1
adequately in the handbook, ii
took a lot of efron io commit
them lo memory.
With this number of ii
channels, a keyboard ove
' e learning
warn to use your Amstrad with
an easily interrogated data-
base. Masterfile 464 is
package lor you. 1
Price: £17.95
E COMPUTING WEEKLY 2 April
Survivor
This program has a bug in il.
According 10 the in for mat ion
inlay, (here arc
. play ihe pan of
The*
■col r.i
s sap your energy
bump into them.
R eta I i ali on is effected by
shooting [hem or thowing a
porcupine bomb at Ihem.
The supplv of bullets can be
replenished by finding Ihe
arsenals depicted as small arms
in the maze. You gel energy by
going over Ihe necessary bonks
containing varying amounts of
Hie challenge is to collect up
all the bombs which are scat-
tered thro ugh out the maze.
Each higher level contains more
Locating the occasional sign-
post gives some indication of
the general direction to be
impression is [hat a lot of this
program is written in BASIC.
This is just not fast enough
lo handle moving graphics
adequately, making tin- ciime no
real challenge to ardent joystick
j ostlers.
The aforementioned bug
rears its ugly head to tell you
that il has met an '•unexpected
return in 1000." Overcoming
this means reloading the
program, thus all you high-
score features are lost.
The game can be played using
either Ihe keyboard or the
joystick.
However, the bug makes it a
waste of money at any price.
Price: £7.95
2 m
game, up to nov
on the Spectrum only, has now
been converted for ihe CM
Whilst I have only seen sum
pictures of ihe original, dtU
appears graphically to be a
faithful reproduction. To use
current jargon, this grapln.al
adventure is a sort of compute-
movie. You play the role of
the hero Cochulainn who is
searching for the fragments of
the seal of Calum.
To fulfil this quest you must
search a huge area of land
problems. The size of Ihe area is
formidable and will take many
hours lo explore. From time
lo time objects and other
each having a role in the game.
On screen you have a
constant view of our hero and
his immediate surroundings.
Pressing the relevant button
moves him left or right with
the background scrolling
accordingly. Movement in the
four cardinal directions is
facilitated by altering ihe
The strong point of this game
characters. The main figure is
huge and movement is intricate,
The other characters are equally
well drawn. Overall, the
graphics are of the highest
standard.
Overall [his is a highly testing
game which is a delight to play.
The vaslness and compleriii of
Ihe scenario is sufficient to
ensure that you don't become
bored. The accompanying
instructions are detailed and
supplement the game well. At
the price — the same as the
Spectrum version — it's
destined to be a winner. A.W.
Price: £9.95
Publisher: Gargoyle
Assembler Monitor 64
For anyone wishing tt
lake a significant piece of
machine code, a good quality
assembler is vital. This package
section ol the market. This
assembler/monitor package
rejoices under the namcof
6510 MACRO Assemble
Development Package. I'm rit
quite sure what that means, bt
For the uninitiated, a
assembler is a program which
will convert a source code make
up of easily intelligible
untler-Lind-..
e which the machine
to create the source code and all
normal disc storage commands
are available. The format is
standard and easy to use. The
main useful feature of this son
of package is the provision for
pseud o op -codes and labelled
variables and loops. To handle
these, this assembler uses two
In addition to the normal
pseudo op-codes such as
.BYTE, .ASC. .WORD and
,AYM, there are some rather
handy facilities. The output of
ihe assembler is controlled by
.OPT. This is a particularly
enables ;
code iodise or. if you'
it. to RAM. This code also
allows the
kc llic
Ihe j^LTiihk'i resides in
leliiue. only 30K is
c lor source coi.]c. I one
can be assembled,
:, by using linked files
second pan of the
mbler. The
and general utility. The format
is nearly the same as most,
standard monitors and provides
commands Tor SAVEing,
LOADing. display memory,
single step, break points,
'isasscmble et
One nice touch is thai the
display register command givi
the details of the individual bi
of (he status register. 1 noted
peculiar behaviour if BF "
encountered. After entering the
single
with a "CALL".
On ihe whole, I found this
package both powerful i
Efficient. The need for special
loaders has been avoided by
ensuring that object code
assembled lo disc is directly
loadable. This ensures a simple
system. In terms of power, this
package is comparable to others
. The r
byte format, .FLP will do this.
One of ihe more bizarre and, if
you know the system well
enough, useful commands is
.SYS. This transfers control (o
your own machine code routine
on each pass, allowing Ihe use
The best of the bun
to be the provision i
via a .MAC and .MEND op-
codes. A macro is a frequently
used block of code which cs
inserted at any point of the
source code but need only be
translated from German was
fair, although occasioi
obscure. Overall, uorllr se
r<i*'.
HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 2 April I9H5 P»ge P
Everyone's a Wally
Whilst impresed with the
graphics used in Pyjamaramn, I
found Ihe piol far from
original. Now here's a game
worlhy of them, ll's a combina-
tion oT arcade/adventure/
strategy ploys featuring Wallv.
his friends Wilma, Tom. Dick
and Harry in their quest to earn
a nol-loo honest shekel!
Littered around the superbly
depicted town arc a number of
things which need mending like
a brick wall, a fountain, cic.
together wiih the things to
1 them. Controlling Wallv.
If, however, the task
needs the skills of Harry the
plumber, then you must lind
him, and take control of him
When the job is complete,
money is deposited in the safe in
'a you complete the
■
oiIk-sj
finally grab the loot. Don't
fooled, it's not easy! Hert_..
' e baby gets in Ihe way, your
characters have to eat and
drink, and all sorts of lunatic
things launch themselves at the
killing them off. There's an
awful lot to keep you quiet.
graphics are outstanding.
■ * ' o-Gen has decided to go
full colour. This causes
background colour changes in a
ot very detracting.
i excellent game, but
expensive. Why not a standard
track, and a £5.95
During the loading there is it
nice gothic title which may lead
you to expect something of Ihe
old Mary Shelley original Not
so Whilst still loading you get
picture of (he human internal
colour. A couple
bars indicate
My pre-release copy did not
contain any detailed in strut
lions other than keyboard
controls but u is hoped thai
some additional doe u menu a-
lion will be pioiided The.-ewas
no explanation of ihe objeclie
or description of the scene but
you can work it out as you go.
When loading is complete ihe
lefi-hand side of the screen has
ling downwards through the
Irachea (that's ihe windpipe!).
Coming upwards arc some form
of blobs which could be various
antibodies and which you can
destroy with torpedoes. Touch
them or the sides of the trachea
and you sustain damage.
Meanwhile your journey is
recorded on the body to the
right with a flashing cursor. If
you complete a stage you move
corpuscles and so On.
ti was an interesting game
initially, with well designed
graphics, bui failed to sustain
that inlcresi. ! could lintl no
way of repairing the damage —
perhaps there's somelhing I've
further lhan Ihe lung.
Incidentally if this sounds
familiar then it's because it's
remarkably like a film called
Fanlastic Voyage, made in
!%(.. Could ihisbeaclue to the
Myrddln Flight
Simulator
Dmgbai is an American col
quiahsm for anything from
baseball to a Sal urn rochet, j
so long as it flics.
In ;his program your dingbal
difficulty for you lo
Strictly for fun, this is
Mir>uiation. but decidei
Brown Free.'
You might be forgiven for
I I:
;> find oui
No need to flap when you
open the instruction booklet
euher. Prop up the map, open
ihe ihrottles, release the brakes,
raise (he flaps and fly away.
The switches and dials built
into this V -model crate are clear
and functional, without any
luxury refinements, like radio
or television.
fly this ihrilljcrker from ihe feel
of ihe controls. These are either
partly keyboard and joystick,
or if yours is the Mk I model
then just use the keyboard.
As an aid to flcdglmij ihers .
cheat key allows instand courst
changes of 180 degrees, Idling
you terminate your life in from
of the loved ones which hi
jusl seen you off.
Should >ou aciualK nmki
safe landing, re-fueling ._
followed by anoiher sortie and
another chance to self-deslruc
Back down lo earth, il n tu-
be said that the landmarks
viewed through (he forward
cockpil window are few and far
between. The infantile graphk
detract from an olherwi;
enjoyable trip.
Though nol lo be conTuse
with s
wrinen in BASIC I
which casis you as a
bright relative of a Rochdale
educated cavalry officer in the
old west, with the task of
finding a boltlc of patent
iiK-Ji. in-.- lor your g!
Three on-screen
give you descripiioi _
instructions, and handle your
input. Don'i lei ihe fact thai ft"
in BASIC pui you off, it's ver
notably whilst reading th
almost, fi's obviously a:
attempt at tin whistle and snare
Juno, which is quite
the exception of its liming.
Rather Dave Brubeck!
Aside from the price. I
great attraction here is t
humour. Being a corn-ball. I
loved it! Example? ■'You see a
group of 50 tin starred cats'"!
Examine cats: "Don't worry,
they're harmless posse cats!",
and more of ihe same. I also
like the faci that I wasn't killed
off in the first few- seconds,
though (o tell (he (ruth, after a
considerable time. I still hadn't
being, though I did collect a few
more John Wayne joke
i, this
program is a lot of Tun and will
keep you at it for h<
recommended for an;
a serious heart condition. D.H.
Probably :
: for l
-: Myrddin
ss: PO Box 61. Swindon,
Address: 10 Carlow Rd.
R ingstead , Northanis NNI4
4DW
WEEKLY 2 April 1985
No frills. No gimmicks.
Just the serious business
of having fun.
Wo know the problem only too well.
Whatever micro you have, you don't want to use it
tor just one thing. That would be boring.
Sometimes you want to be serious and explore its
capabilities. At others you just want to cut loose
and zap a few aliens or sharpen your game skills.
Even try a bit of education.
Get to grips with it. Every quarter.
m
BE
PROGRAMMERS
£10,000P.A.
+ UNLIMITED
■fr ■
were looking for the best games
machine code programmers in the
country to Join our exciting
development team.
The rewards are exceptional for trie right
people who show a high degree of
creativity plus a full knowledge of 280
machine code programming Initially for
48K spectrum.
write with details to: Mr M Mahony,
Alllgata Software Ltd.. 1 0range
street, Sheffield S1 40W. TBI: (0742)
755796. J» |B ft
llliqati
Cheque/P.O. payable to IT'S
Send to: IT's, 33 Foscote Road, London NW4 3SE
Enquiries: 01-430-2284 11am to 7pm
Overseas orders welcome. Every tide at UK retail price
8
<
OQ
In part four of our Spectrum
programming series Colin Wilton-
Davies upgrades his Spectrum and
exptains the use of printing control
characters
Since writing (he third part
ol [!iisM.-nes, I have spent
£20 on a kit ftom Sinclair
to upgrade my Spectrum to a
Spectrum +. My machine was a
Spectrum 3B, ! discovered when
I opened the case, and perhaps
because of this, I only had two
points to solder out of a
possible four. I needn't really
have done even that, but I
thought it would be rather nice
Another model might have
soldering
soldering iron and a good light
should be deterred by this. The
new keyboard makes life much
easier; I only envy the people
of your Spec: rum in-
SpectrumO the guarantt
graciously restored again from
the original date of purchase!
I'll definitely have to stop
telling you which keys to press
low; no SN, just the comma.
With the r
Guide Companion Cassette 1
which has an excellent prograr
part three we had a first
at the INK and PAPER
ing them both to
change the whole screen area by
using a CLS statement after
them and to change limited
areas by using PRINT state-
ments afterwards. We also
of
tiple
separate them. This brings
to the use of semi-colons as
PRINT state-
These useful punctua-
tion marks allow you to put
INK and PAPER statements
into PRINT statements.
Enter this little program and
RUN it:
100 REM play with colou
110 PAPER 4;1NK0:CLS
120 PRINT "Hullo";
9000 STOP
PAPER for listing and to
SAVE each stage of your
rograms painlessly. Old hat;
PRINT PAPER 5;"";
RUN this, and, as you'd
expect, a cyan space appears
after "Hullo". After all, you
executed a PAPER statc-
50 PRINT "Fred";
If you weren't surprised that
the paper was green again,
you're ahead of the class. INK
and PAPER slatemi
porated into PRINT
with semicolons have
effect. EDIT
50 PRINT PAPER 2; INK 6;
possibilities. 1 say begin,
things you can do to modify
PRINT statements in a
temporary sort of way. One of
these is to incorporate a
150 PRINT FLASH 1; PAPER
2; INK 6; "Fred";
160 PRINT PAPERS;"";
"FLASHingisON";FLASH0
means "'FLASHing is OFF".
We'll develop that concept later
let's move flashing Fred a little
When you use a typewriter, you
can stan your text away from
the left margin either by
entering lots of spaces before
the words or by using the TAB-
ulator key if your machine has
one. You can do the same
things with the Spectrum, and
TAB is easier. Enter:
130 PRINT TABS;
1 character t<
Die i
although it's incorporated in a
PRINT statement with a semi-
colon, the effect of the TAB is
not lost before the next
statement as INK or PAPER
would be. That is, if you placed
the semicolon at the end of the
line. You must have noticed by
now how fussy the Spectrum is
wouldn't employ him as a
programmer, would you?
All this isn't as gimmicky as
you might think. You can use
this son of thing to highlight
different sorts of information,
for example to distinguish your
words from the computer's,
full of
demonstrate that, and talk
little bit about words a
opposed to numbers. If line 13
thing that doesn't have to
jargon a "string". The variable
sS is a "siring variable".
Obviously, the expected answer
is "M" or "F". but there is
nothing to stop someone
putting in a wrong letter, and a
program should allow for this
sort of thing. Conditional state-
ments were touched on last
week, and we need them for
140 IF sJ = "M" THEN
PAPER 5: GOTO 170
150 lFs$= "F" THEN PAPER
3: GOTO 170
160 GO TO 110
170 PRINT "";
See how these work. In line
140, if the condition (sS is the
of the line is executed and
PAPER becomes cyan and
control transferred to line 170,
which prints a space. If the
the line is ignored, and control
goes to line 130, where if s£ '
"F". then PAPER becom
line 170 again. If sS is neither
"M" nor "F" then we find
ourselves at line 160 and go
straight back to line 1 10. The
program would be more "user-
friendly" if we allowed for
lower case as well as capital
letters to be input. EDIT:
i INPUT "What i
and the
program will print a
paper that is blue(ish)
for a boy
and pink(ish) for a girl
as long as the user understands
that only
a single letter input is
o answer questions
. If you don't believe
answering "male"
RUN the program.
have to constrain the computer
at only the first
character of the string sS. This
should
and (here is time to do
it but no
to explain it this week:
135 sj =
KD
Well, you haven't seen those
because
wanted to tell you
about m
upgrade kit, but cross
my heart
we'll draw things next
HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 2 April 1985 I
»*!**_ Jgf F
APPOINTED
DEALER
^ 1^1 <
PARCO ELECTRICS
NEW STREET, HC
BKLTE PL ill
IBf—
iij &.___ If II
- Mr 11
"•■- ■
„ ,, — _„ —
POOLSWINNER
1*1*1 selec ES
37 COUNCILLOR LANE. CHEADLE. CHESHIRE. g 061-438 7425
BACK-UP PROBLEMS SOLVED
DCL1 DUAL S«^mS^mmSSSoS»(&
DATASETTE r ! c ,BS t, E^?g"xAc™, BE o l S io fl ED s , L™
INTERFACE S&^iiVs ™™: mS*"™ 01 ™"' "'
DCL AUDIO
RECORDER
INTERFACE
O CVCOPY TAPE 'S.
« BACK-UP S
£ PROGRAM
"10 DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE"
Q
Gus Giich Is out to
smash everyone's
Easter eggs and
you're going to help
him. Watch out for
the yolks in John
Donovan's game
Gus Gilch, the HCW
program bug, has deci-
ded to ruin an oi her
program. Someone has primed
Easier eggs all over the screen
and Gus is determined to smash
In this special Easter game
Variables
cord
SMIX.V) screen map
thin
imi-::i>
set variables, draw
HUN
scan keyboard
or inpul
moves Gus whether
Jlll-M
i'Mlir. I'ilJllli:
li'ssafL'.
HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 2 April 1985 Page 23
fea
Your Easter egg
has been stolen by
the killer bunnies.
You must risk
death to
recover it in this
Q
of ihe killer
Standard two- word com-
jsed with about 30
words understood (if you look
Ihrough the program you will
see some of Ihem, but there arc
The p
; code. To get the
lo work you need to
i type in program 2 ant
--■"! Of I
Next. RUN program 1 and
write the data it generaLes
imnivdUiicly after program 2,
then RUN program 2 which will
load in the data and use it for
Guild luck
HOME COMi'l.TINCi WlilM Y ?. \piil 19S5 Plgr 25
Pw 26 HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 2 Apr
HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 2 April 1985 P«gt 27
-?"looto3720
5219
9228
5240
S360
9380
5440
9480
9720
3740
9780
B527
8928
6529
6930
6680 I
6700 .
6720 (
6740 -
6780 «
6820 i
6840 I
6880
6900
6920
6948
6960
6980
7000
7020 i
7040 ■
7080
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p« K (M homt roMinj-riNc; wllkly 2 April I9S5
ANCHORLORD LTD.
COMMODORE PACK C64. DATASETTE. REFERENCE GUIDE
BOOK. JOYSTICK. CARRYING CASE + INTERNATIONAL
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EASYFILE + 6GAMES E538
PRINTERDPS1001. ... £300
SIM0NSBAS1C+ VERNATIONALSOCCER £35.50
SPECTRUMPLUS £125
OL E375
ATARI £128
AMSTRAD(GREE%VONiT0Rj £23B
AMSTRAD(COLC-R MONITOR) E33B
ELECTRON £125
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1541 FLASHFROMSUPERSOF- £d9 95
ALL PRICES INCLUDE VAT
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a Sinclair C5. All runners up
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Just a few examples of our latest stock. Phone for details
HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 1 April 1985 P»ge 3
b
Chocky Chick Is In
trouble.
He's hungry
— but the worms
are becoming
radioactive.
By Jon Revls
Hi
! In this story you plaj
n, scratching a living
;n Ihc farm, flj iMiiii:.- ilu
uhidi iiribiule iiii'i! «;u
ill*-- -iurl'ii^e. t'lmtkj cm
;e lilt? si/L' of its famih
K OUI of H) "onus anc
coop. Fragments of the rock
embedded themselves in the
ground. Next day Chocky went
out lo gel breakfast. One
particularly juicy worm vvas
making its way up through the
ground to become part of
Chocky'
shot up through the
vaporised a rathe
Chocky.
The aim of the g;
Page 30 HOMI COMI'lJTINCi WCEKLY 2 April 1!
HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 2 April 1985 Page 31
j WEEKLY 2 April
OQ
s
OQ
O
i
REM "TICKING SOUS"
liS
PRINT OT 3,8;" TICK
INS SOMB"
11
PR-USE 180
12
CL5
20
PRINT
30
PRINT "TYPE THE CDRRET CODE
4.3
PRINT "LETTER (R.-Z.I TO"
50
0-16"
PRINT "DEFUSE THE TICKING B
PRINT "YOU HRUE 4. CHRNCE5"
PR INT
Save the world
- 1??
LET CS=CHRS C3 7 + IMT (RND*E6
by defusing the
"■38
138
FOR G=l TO B
INPUT a$
bomb/ By
Stephen and
110
IF G*=C-S THEM GOTO 310
12©
IF G*-:C3 THEN PRINT "LATER"
Mark Howtett
.30
IF S*>C* THEN PRINT "EflRLIE
PRINT " THAN ";GS
3.58
simple bul entertaining game
for the ZX81. You must deluse
a bomb which threatens to blow
up the earth.
IbC PRINT
;?U PRINT "BOOOODCOC'i;.!-!!-*. . . " '
130 PRINT "VOL' BLEU' IT,"
190 PRINT "THE CORRECT CDC'E UftS
To Hud the code, choose a
£00
PAUSE 180
ettcr in the alphabet. As you
=■01
RUN
guess, [he computer will tel! you
at a
PRINT "TICK. . .FZZZZ. . .CLICK
whether you're close or not.
Get going, then — you only
lave a limited time to save the
PRINT "YOU DID IT" /&*&
PfiLISE 180 CT^"^-;
RUN Mt*V
HOME COMPUTING WiiliKLY 2 April I9SS P»g* 33
Here's a real
tearjerker!
The bunnies are in
danger, their
burrow is Hooding
'{'. and you must save
them. By Allen and
Margaret Webb
Easier is here again and
ihc Easier bunnies arc
frolicking in the fields,
Itiu all is mil well. The wicked
■■'. mc] i lias sen l an unusually
heavy April shower. The water
is flooding the field and the
bunnies must reach the safety of
their burrows. Can you help
nuide them to safely? For every
, the good fairy
Easier egg.
.1 I in
1'ijilin it'!:
will i»u- yi
On the !
bunny and its (
ihc keyboard or
musl guide the
burrow. When it reaches ihe
burrow, both will vanish and a
new bunny will appeal. The
blue market on the left of ihe
screen indicates the depth of
flooding. When il reaches iis
Three levels of difficully are
available, Al ihe easy level, the
higher levels, ihe wicked witch
takes a hand and moves the
burrow, making life more
difficult. Easy level is best for
Ihe very young whilst ihe higher
levels inject a little irritation.
If you use the keyboard, the
following keys operate
A moves bunny up
Z moves bunny down
Cursor up/down moves bunny
changing lines 550 to 5 80.
If you want lo use a joystick,
don't have an advantage, ihe
rabbil can only be moved up,
down, left and right.
Entering the game is quile
simple. Just type in and SAVE
the two listings. The loader
contains the machine code and
sprite and character defi nil ions.
cofen
< spill
igthe
check sum to spot any errors.
The procedure is lo LOAD and
RUN the data loader and then
LOAD and RUN the i
Machine code rouflni
1 ■■iuriiih' ;■
Block 1 contains Ihe raster
terrupl code and allows you
split the screen up inlo live
nes. The zones are numbered
Ihe top of the
1 1 he imcnipi.N
you simply use ihe command:
SYS 12*4096
To change a zone use (he
SYS49313,Z.C5,CB,A,B,C
Z= zone number (0-4)
CS= screen colour (0-15)
CB= border colour (0-15)
A= for normal characters
1 for exiended mode
2 for bit map
B= for normal mode
I For multicolour mode
C= position for character sei
C Character Posn
4 SI000 (normal upper case)
6 S18O0 (normal lower case)
8 S2000
function coireclly with t
screen at the normal positii
ii) To use bit map mode, yi
multicolour uppercase I
emended lower case I (
hi-res bit map f< S21XK) 2 (
ii'.vr defined chars al
$2800 10
SYS49920.5N.X.Y
SN= sprite number (0-7)
pieces of code
idest range of general
" make life a "
.,..14 HIIMI- COMPI'IIN.. VUI KH i April 1W5
HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 2 April 1985 P»gt 35
i&S^***
Mel Paszkowskl reviews the Merlin
Database and Scribe. Read on to find
out why he was Impressed
This son of puka^ is;: >
offering which, for the
sophisticated features,
should ask yourself, therefore,
whether you would use them.
The money alone should
— think pretty carefully.
puler, are a disc drive
some of the
processing work a 'proper'
because there is an option I
work with 80 characters acros
1 used one drive and found
quite so bad with Send
The big question is, wl
impressive, elongated.
i discs, a Data/ Scribe
nualsand a function ktv
vly review copy didn'i
. two program options
covering letter explaii '
n fitting the chip.
>n shcel showed a
am with step-by-step
, Time taken was about
ninutes mostly searching
for a Philip's
Starting in familiar territory 1
chose the word processor. It's
accessed by the shift/break keys
and immediately gives the m
menu. Once the program has
idea of the size of f
l'.u«
\ p;iees_a
d tells y
: available.
Peace, you would be expected
to write in sections and merge
the documents later.
Once on the edit paj
becomes plain sailing. A si
line at the top keeps you
informed as to where you a
the document and how n
space is left. A prompt lii
left blank for occasional
instructions and messages. A
third line corresponding to the
number of characters chosen in
dashes shows tabs or margins
Editing seemed
highl-
it 36 HOME COMPUTING weekly 2 April 1985
m %m^ ftAm
Software
(or*heBBCComp U
augh function
: and adjust
both margi
A particularly useful funcii
is Search and Replace, enabli _
you lo define a string, which
can be a word or phrase, and
replace it with something else.
Printing is arranged via
another menu which supports
serial or parallel types. If serial,
you have the option to change
the baud rate. Here, amongst
the list of options, you can set
automatic page numbering, the
printing of a header and footer
or re-define characters by
inserting printer codes. All of
these can be saved with the
document.
ifter two days of reading began
program loads an index into
RAM each time a database is
accessed which makes sorting
creating your
database you therefore have the
option of defining up to eight
conditional indexes and altering
them at any lime. When you
initiate a search you choose
the utilities to be sent later
There are two ways of getting
printed information from the
database. The first is by the
irt Writer which allows
only give
:. For tr
is far
simpler to use Scribe through
the Mail Merge facility. This,
quite simply, allows you
a document mid lime;
of the fields included by u „
' field label preceded and
followed by the 'M' sign.
" liked the system. It offered
sort of integration that
de life easy. Menus wert
complimentary and screer
o follow. Good
your index and view the resuli
Some careful thought mi
go into planning and deftnii
the Key Fields. These will affect
the sorting routines and
positioning on the original
layout will determine priorities.
Size is another important factor
as you are limited by disc space.
When your database has b
defined you learn how many
records you will be able to
creale on the allocated disc.
There is always a trade-off
between record size and rec
number but a record can be
to four pages in length e
containing 920 characters.
experiments
well worth i
projects. I found 1 had cr
too many key fields and s<
was somewhat chaotic
indexes. R disc son is I
HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 2 April 1985 P.ge 31
Arcade Hardware, 211 Horton Rd.
Fallowfield, Manchester M14 7QE.
061 225 2248
FOR YOUR TI-99S4A
FROGGER - £24.95
Q«BERT - £24.95
Both games require joysticks
MIDNITE MASON - £24.95
rated by Home Computer Magazine (U.S.A.! as a
"Diamond in the rough".
NEW stocks of newly manufactured
EXTENDED BASIC - £74.95
made under licences from Texas Instruments with
improved manual.
Available mid- late April
All items subject to availability
Wide range of TI-9994A related it
PRICE BUSTERS
AMSTRAD CPC464 ADVENTURES
■Y, W«« m\(>!l> U>\ E\TLRi:S are like a breath of
freshair" TonyKendle, PCWDec '85.
THE TRIAL of ARNOLD B[
ARNOLD goes 10 SOMEWHERE ELSE
THB WISE and FOOL of ARNOLD BLACKWOOD
NEW TITLES
ANGELIC-LIE: A CHIEF ENCOUNTER
"So I recommend ll highly." PCW March '85
. silly prio
(Y«,TWO!)(UKonl
If an advertisement
is wrong we're here
to put it right.
the press, in print,
rosters or in the cinema which you find
icceptable, write to us at the address below. 4
TheAdvertisingStandardsAuthority. If
jd.Dtp.]Brcoh Home. Tomrig.on Place. London WC1E7HN
GHOSTBUSTERS
the U.K.: Europe add 75p pet tape: £
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machine) all machines catered for. When ordering send
chcques/p Bargain software
10 MELODY COURT, WELLESLEY RD,
LONDON W4 3AW TEL: 01-995 2763
P»ge3B HOME COMPUTING wi-.EKLY 2 April 1985
This week Peter Green shows how to
implement various loop structures,
in Part 2 of our series on converting
programs between different BASICs
Fori
had a BASIC which was either
written by Microsoft, or
followed [heir lead in the
Standard Microsoft BASIC was
a fairly conservative language,
and the only implicit looping
structure was the FOR-NEXT -
STEP construction. With the
BBC machine and the Oric-I
came the more exotic REPEAT-
UNTIL loop, and now Amslrad
has arrived with the even more
useful WHILE-WEND loop.
Yet with a bit of self-restraint in
the use of GOTO and some
thought, even the earliest
BASIC computer could have
had these useful features even
though the actual keywords
weren't present. We'll see how
FOR the NEXT time
The FOR-NEXT loop is pretty
standard and should work
unaltered on any machine.
However, Amslrad BASIC has
a slight peculiarity. Consider
Etamle 1. This is a loop in
which some operation has to be
performed on all five items in
an array, say, except for the
Normally ii
practice to hat
NEXT for
very bi
FOR,
NEXT would end the loop and
so program flow is unknown —
never a good idea? In this case
the 'internal' NEXT of line 20
cannot end the loop (it changes
i from 3 to 4 which is less than
the end value of 5) so you can
get away with it.
However, Amslrad BASIC
will give an 'Unexpected
NEXT" error because it pairs up
FOR-NEXT keywords and
allows no extras. The solution is
FOR-NEXT delay loops. You'l
have to experiment with thi
values in the loop to duplicati
the same timing period, since al
BASICs run at different speeds
Play It again, Sam
REPEAT-UNTIL and WHILE
WEND have two basic differ
First, WHILE tests thi
loop and REPEAT tests it al
the end. So a REPEAT loop is
always executed al least once,
but a WHILE loop can be by-
passed if the condition isn't
Second, a WHILE loop i:
tuted
long
r. [f x
the REPEAT
loop still runs once but the
WHILE loop is skipped, here
you need to use the GOTO
ions explained below.
J».
w
condition is TRUE: a REPEAT
loop is executed as long as the
condition is FALSE. So you
can swap from one type to the
other (i.e. REPEAT-UNTIL on
the Beeb or Oric to WHILE-
WEND on the Amstrad, or
vice-verse) provided you are
certain that the always-once/
sometimes-never difference
source listing).
How? Simply use the othet
type of loop and invert the
condition — see E it am pie 2,
which shows exactly equivalent
loops, provided x is always less
equal to 5 on loop
Boolean algebra tells us how
can be done systematically, b__
for anything other than the
round the whole thing and use
NOT, as in Example 3.
(Remember NOT(TRUE) is
FALSE and vice versa.) This
avoids any errors of logic
(particularly easy with mixed
ANDs and ORs). and anyway,
why shouldn't the computer dt
all the hard work7
Examples 4, 5 and 6 shov
how GOTO can be used t<
duplicate exactly the action o
WHILE and REPEAT: ant
consequently how these types o
■uns BASIC,
hardly require
iple 4 the program keeps
HUM!- (OMI'I riNli UH.I-.LY 2 April 1
jumping back to Ihe slarl of the
loop if NOT (coiidiiioiij i-
TRUE, i.e. UNTIL condition is
TRUE. Then NOT (condilion)
is FALSE and the program
drops through to line 110 as
required.
In Example 5 the program
keeps jumping back from line
110 to the start, where Ihe
condition i- tested. As long as it
is TRUE the loop routine is
executed again. Once it is
FALSE, then NOT (condition!
becomes TRUE and the
program jumps over Ihe loop
line 1110. Note that it is quite
possible thai the condilion is
FALSE from the beginning, so
the loop will not be executed ai
all. just like the WHILE-
WEND type.
GOTO jail?
computers like the Spectrum,
which allows computed GOTOs
(i.e. GOTO expression), can use
the facility as a reminder as to
what's going on. Beware,
though — if you have nesled
loops (one inside another) you
need to use different variables
for each loop (e.g. repeal!,
repeai2 a so on). Otherwise Ihe
program will 'forget' where Ihe
outer loop is because ihe inner
one will change the variable
value. Also, renumbering is out
(flcch owners please note)
;e ihe ji
•- i,[|| n
Programs are always supplied on
cassette and are accompanied by full
details of the program variables, how
the program works and any hints on
conversion you can offer. Please type
these details double spaced. Listings
are helpful but not essential. What is
vital is that the programs should be
completely error free, so please
double check.
Always use a coupon firmly fixed to
the back of your envelope, and fully
complete and enclose the cassette
inlay card.
We are particularly interested in
programs with less than 100 actual
lines of BASIC. All submissions are
acknowledged.
Send your
programs to
HCW!
Special !»■ ding inxru
<*•*»««».
.-,»:,
ta« -Ml*.
-■*•
p mi -M.AI,
[C *) HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 3 April 1985
This week
Shingo Suigura
shows you how to
combine characters
to increase detail
A you have probably
ealised. a single charac-
ter is pretty small and in
order to gel any detail, you need
lo join several together. For
example, take a look at (he van
in Tig. I and define the from half
as characler 224 and Ihe back as
character 225 in the usual
fashion. If you
PRINT CHRS224CHRS225 <
RETURN > . you find the vim is
in ihe correct form. Therefore,
in order to move the van from
right lo left on row 10, we can
modify the program given in
10MODE1
20FOR X = 38 TO 2 STEP-I
30PRINT TAB (X.IO)
CHRS224CHRS225
40FOR A = 0TO IOO:NEXT
50PR[NTTAB(X,IOr "
60NEXT
As you would t
:lly. How
isn't exactly very meani
have a van as CHRSI24CHRS
225. If only you could giv
dianKicrs meaningful names s
you can variables. In fact, yo
can! If we want lo call the van
somelhing devaslalingly
original like "van", type:
CHRS224 + CHRS225
This works but
always print I he characters
with a TAB statement. How do
we use the labelling technique
we used for the van? We can
make use of some of the control
codes (characters from (o 3 1).
There are several which allow
you (o move the cursor about
relative to its position rather
move it to an absolute position.
What we want lo do is print the
lop half (by now Ihe t
advanced to the next
=240
=20B
=248
=24B
= 184
PRINT shuttles
HOME COMPUTING WLLKLY 2 April 1985 Puce 4
In the first of a series Brian Jones deals
with the basics of BASIC
W world of BASIC.
BASIC is [he most
commonly used computet
language in the world, not
because it's a specially good
language; it isn't quick, it
efficiently, it's not a language
that encourages good program-
ming style. So. why is it so
There are two main reasons;
you get results quickly: it was
the first of its type, or at least
the first to get established.
Back in the days of value
computers, the language
FORTRAN (formula transla-
tion language! was all the rage.
vtng
doing longwinded c
days, to give all tl
Sometimes i
from the first f
there was eithei
of die answer!) a waste of time.
Of course, if the person who
Supplied the Jala had seen those
first answers he or she would
probably have been able to say
abandon the run, but usually
only computer operators were
allowed near computers, and
they weren't to know.
Clearly, a system where the
computer gave some answers
then waited to he fed more data
would have advantages. As
computers got faster this idea
became practical and at
Dartmouth College in the
United Slates, Thomas Kurtz
and John Kemeny designed a
language able to do just that.
Enter BASIC — Beginners
purpose Symbolic
Code. Do you gel the feeling
that thev divided on the initials
BASIC first, then worked out
what it could stand for?
Actually their main concern was
to produce a language which
was very easy to learn and get
programs working very quickly.
between computer and user was
a bonus. The ability of a
language to stop in the middle
ol ,1 program and await further
- fairly r-
started adding the features they
thought were missing. The
result is that there are many
versions of the language. I'll be
primarily concerned with the
version Commodore used For
the 84 (and V 10-20). However,
since this version is not among
the most sophisticated, most of
applies
iiiilipilkT
prog
a the
mands will
work. There are just a lot of
ter commands which won't
mentioned. The information
ichines where the keyboard
programs are concerned so I
win deal with this first.
First a tour of the keyboard.
Most of the keys are laid out
exactly like a typewriter
keyboard. However, unlike a
produce capitals not lower case.
Turn on and try it. Would vou
prefer lower ease? Look at the
comer of the keyboard. There's
a key with the Commodore logo
Commodore Key. Nest to it is a
"shift" key. Press both at c
and see the effect — ma
Press them together a few m.
times and you see the display
flip from lower case mode ti
capitals mode and back, that'
the t iimmodore flip!
Individually these keys enable
you to display (he Commodore
graphics characters which
appear on the front o I each key.
nold down
This
in capitals mode
keys iind sec what you get. 1
do the Commodore flip a
times again. I love the way
letters look as though they are
doing press-upsl
Mai
graphics characters from both
the Commodore key and the
shift key and watch the
Commodore flip carefully.
Notice something? While the
characters generated by thi
shift key swop from capitals tc
graphics and back, those from
the Commodore key don'l.
Well, there are a couple of
exceptions; can you find them?
The oihei keys you'll "
They're at the bottom right of
the main keyboard. The cursor
is that little flashing square
which indicates where your
typing will appear. Vou c
move it around with the f
cursor keys. When the shift key
is held down il goes up or It"
depending on which key i
ptt'ss. Without the shift it g.
instead of moving, the cur
leaves strange characters, do
panic — I'll explain whs
happening next week. Just hold
down -a shift key ai
key labelled "RETURN". Now
The si
probably looks :
Hold di
the key marked "CLR
HOME". There you are a clean
sheet. If you hadn't held down
the shift key. the cursor would
;r of th
now, without clearing ;tn> thing
This position is called "home".
Right, that's prepared the
ground, but let me leave you
homework.
Use the graphics and ci
keys to produce a conlin
line from the home pos
diagonally to where it touches
the bottom of (he screen
then draw a big noughts and
crosses board in the middle of
the screen.
IKIMI ( n\ll'l iiM., ultki i : .\
^S
A/° ! Go/de* 5j«oa>,
How 10 E
tin HCW 104. Here
it the missing codes.
was recently playing Tony
Crowther's new game Gryphon,
from Quicksilva, I had played il
aboiii Five limes and each time I
checked the hi-score chart.
When 1 pressed the function
keys a strange thing happened.
It looked as if my TV set was
tuning itself in to Channel 5.
But there is no channel 5, 1 hear
you say, Enactly, there isn't; it's
. ■ ,il .i n „| * ..
Tony Crowiher's joke. Not very
funny because twice I turned
my computer off and reloaded
the game before I realised!'
It looks very realistic with
lines Hashing across the screen
which then turn into a teslcard
of channel 5. If you ever have
the misfortune to suffer this
you have to do is press the N
1. Machine code listing l<
k$32f (At i s.i
CD 8C S3 :
&S331 CP 2
JR IMZ &833A 20 J
Afi.W CALL&8M5 CDWS2
&833L LP E.I
&834H CALL B18C CD 8C 83
,\tv5d ITSHDE D5
POP HL El
JR&8357 IS 3
■ CALL&S2VI1 t !>'.']
,vs'r I I) DL.O 1I0B
&S35A I \l I SBF-l CDF 1
HL » colour. DE - n
Amswer back
,! :!.,■
i from D Harman, R
Kavanagh and D Black
(HCW 101) with incredulity,
rviewers for HCW we
tat some facts should be
explained. When we recei
game for review, we
' :d to play il and M ;i
opinion of it. We an
lApe.-K'J hi compare i
other versions on o
machine; (in fact it would be
(]u>v.ly unfair 10 do so).
Inevitably, we mentally
compare it to other software
for the sai
then again, don't we all? You
the other hand, you c:
different machines.
Consider an i
ve review of a
for l
i solid gold
buy it- After
playing il for 30 seconds you
that you loathe il. !s il
slag off a reviewer who
Uked it?
We suggest that y
views as they ai
o play it be/on
s for
buying. Use o
guidance by a
use your own judgement tu
We accept that not every-
body will share out views, but
then again life would I
pretty tedious if we alLagreed
all the ti:
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